I'm now off to mull over which candidate I will support next. My insitinctive choice is Edwards. Ironically, I started with the Breck Boy in 2002, but he seemed to fade so fast that I looked around for another candidate. That's when I saw Clark on CNN and started hoping. A year later, as I watch him try to bow out as gracefully as possible, I support him in doing so. This process is so abusive and I'm glad to see what I consider a good and decent man reclaim his life and dignity from the media, from his opponents, and from us.
What I've learned is that politics is about surviving the process as much as it is being the right man for the job. It also requires an insider to do well--outsiders like Dean and Clark are considered and dismissed pretty quickly by the establishment media. And the establishment itself does not want to cede power. Some rail against that, I think it's fine. Whoever wins, they've got the stuff to give it a go. Whoever loses, they did not have enough support to carry the day anyway.
I don't have an anti-anyone agenda except I'm anti-Bush. But for those who can't imagine voting for anyone but Clark or Dean or Kucinich or etc. I say that your vote is not just about your conscience. In this case it's about actual human lives--500+ Americans lost in Iraq, who knows how many thousand Iraqis lost. Your November vote against the dem nominee, or lack of it for the same, has the effect of keeping Bush in office. His record shows that under his admin, you risk having blood on your hands. Our disappointment and rage and envy and purity of principle and disgust has to be put aside. Our efforts and our work and our money and our vote are in the cause of saving others from the worst and most dangerous president this country has ever seen.
So while I'll be disappointed and discouraged for a day or so. I prefer to join you--all of you--in this fight to keep Bush and his corrupt cronies from holding power for another four years.